India suspends pioglitazone: is it justified?

In the month of June 2013 the Government of India suddenly suspended three drugs for use. The suspension of the anti-diabetic agent came as a rude shock to the medical community who has been utilizing this insulin sensitizer for more than a decade. We took a close look at the controversies surrounding this agent, the current state in the global scenario and how India has reacted in this mini review. Like most of the drugs utilized in the management of medical disorders pioglitazone also has been under the scanner for quite some time. However no definitive cause and effect association with any of the adverse events namely bladder cancer, anemia, fractures and heart failure was found. The international community responded with caution and refrained from banning the drug outright except for France. The ban in India in the absence of incriminating data on the Indian population seems out of place.
(Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)